I recently received a copy of Infernalia by Magister Rose and wanted to share a few of my thoughts and personal opinions regarding what I have read so far.

I wanted to start by mentioning that this short and rather informal review cannot really do justice to the sheer variety of issues addressed or touched upon by Magister Rose in his book. Infernalia is only 155 pages long, but it contains just over 60 different essays and the essays appear to have been written and published across quite a few years.

I don’t want to go into great detail, but rather highlight a few general points which are important to me and also mention two of the essay’s which have really struck a chord.

Magister Rose writing possesses a number of qualities, which I believe compares with other members of the hierarchy of the Church of Satan who have published valuable books. There is the self – possession and the self – assurance demonstrated in these writings: there is the elitism and the hardness, the anti-egalitarianism, the misanthropy and cynicism, and the dislike of stupidity which seem to be a cornerstone of so many good Satanic essays; and there is the ability to articulate Satanism in straight forward, convincing and profound ways based on years of experience and thought.

All of these qualities are deeply appreciated by me and provide a refreshing and decidedly Satanic perspective on the world. I am sick and tired of having to listen to the same old politically correct and mindless interpretations of events. I am sick and tired of having to read the same old impotent thinking masquerading as vital and contemporary yet again, and above all I am sick and tired of the same old moral and religious prescriptions being used to undermine quality, greatness and strength, while promoting the bland, the mindless and the egalitarian. Magister Rose’s book is uncompromising with enough well aimed shots to frighten the meek and offend all those who truly deserve it. Good show.

I am picking up this book review again after taking a break from it for a few days. I am currently re – reading ‘Fallacious Foundation,’ an essay which can be located on Page 55-57 of Magister Rose’s book. This is a powerful example of third side thinking and would literally scare the hell out of any non – Satanist who read it.

This essay is an uncompromising and wholesale rejection of the natural rights foundation of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the philosophical roots of this doctrine, which can be found in Rousseau (particularly Rousseau’s Social Contract, as well as in other places, such as Locke’s work, I believe.)

This useful and important essay by Reverend Rose’s insists that people face facts and realise that it is human inequality and the resulting stratification, which is in fact natural, and consequently, the real basis for human interaction and hence for a healthy society.

Where are these human rights, which are supposedly “guaranteed” by nature and in “accord” with nature? Do any of these rights exist apart from the right of death for repeated failure and the right to life and success for those who are strong enough and smart enough to dominate and to adapt? Where is the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness when these “inalienable” and “natural” rights cannot be empirically or logically proven to be either natural or universal?

It is now three hours since I wrote the last words above and I am once again hunched over my desk, with a cup of coffee in hand, ready to type. I have just finished re - reading Magister Rose’s essay ‘Lies I Learned in School’ which can be located on Page 106-108.

I believe it was Noam Chomsky who once stated that education was a system of imposed ignorance. As an ex - visual arts teacher I would tend to agree and I would also tend to agree with many of the assertions of Magistra Barton, who addressed the issue of education in an article which can be located in the T/P section of the COS website. Reverend Rose has written an essay expressing his own views regarding his own educational experiences with a particular emphasis on a number of convenient and conventional fictions pushed by teaching staff. I also agree with many of his assertions based on my own experiences.

Indoctrination is the basic cornerstone of contemporary Western education and I would think a common feature of all education. Magister Rose recommends that people learn to think for themselves and to understand that holding formal degrees and diplomas does not necessarily equip an individual to be an independent thinker and problem solver, but rather the possessor of written proof of their own successful indoctrination by others.

The democratic ideal; the self assurance that we human beings are more evolved than other animals; the belief that history is made by the masses, rather than the great individual; and the so - called quality of the aesthetic Modernism of Picasso and other twentieth century avant-garde artists, are all regarded by Magister Rose, as examples of fictions and prejudices imposed on students by teachers in the classroom. (The fact that Reverend Rose was able to see through this attempted indoctrination in his own particular case says a great deal about him I think and about the type of vision a Satanist possesses.)

I could go on about this book, but I do not wish to test the patience of the moderators regarding the length of this thing so I will stop. There is certainly a lot to think about here with regards to the contents of this book.

I recommend Magister Rose’s book, as a fine example of purely Satanic writing and it would make a worthy addition to anyone’s library. For those who are studying Satanism and are (like me) hoping to publish a book of their own someday it is essential.

"We are superior, and are superior not by ethnic means, but by the superior force of the will -- the imagination, the creativity, and the very essence of resourcefulness, and survival, that is the heart and the very soul of the Satanist."~Anton LaVey